The three-year old Donner Company has positioned itself within both the little volume. customized printed circuit boards market every bit good as the big volume printed circuit boards market. With 750 rivals in the US. and a market that is volatile. Donner’s technology expertness to expect and decide design jobs enabled it to keep its competitory border. However. this competitory advantage is jeopardized by hapless on-time bringing and high rate of merchandise return. in add-on to planning and fabrication jobs that caused unstable constrictions and improper use of labour. These jobs began to impact the overall public presentation of the house in footings of operations. productiveness and quality.
Following is a elaborate analysis of the current conditions of the company: its standard procedure flow. its capacity. its competitory border and its biggest jobs.
1. What is the normal procedure flow of the production system at Donner? What orders would you schedule on the CNC drill? On the CNC router?
Normal Process Flow:
I- Preparation PhaseArtwork coevalsInspect and GearPunch Tooling Holes
II- Image TransportationTraping panel to bore tableBoring Holes whether manually or with the CNC drillDrill PressMetallizationWashing. scouring and surfacing with DFPRAlliance of Customer Artwork and exposure to UVElectroplating and Tin PlatingChemical Etching of DFPR and Copper bedEtching and Stripping of Tin
III- FabricationSoldermask Silk testingSolder BathDecrease to finished profile by CNC routingor clout imperativenessInspection. Testing. Packaging and Transportation
From the information provided in exhibit 2. we can place and cipher the breakeven point ( the figure of orders ) to make up one’s mind when to utilize the CNC drill vs. manual drill and the breakeven point to make up one’s mind when to utilize the machine-controlled CNC router vs. manual clout imperativeness. CNC drill
See Order size = QIf manual imperativeness is used. so the clip taken to bore the holes of Q orders is equal to 15 + Q x 0. 08 ten 500 = 15 + 40Q
If CNC is used. so clip taken to bore the holes of Q orders is equal to 240 + Q x 0. 004 ten 500 = 240 +2Q
Hence it is clear that CNC should be used merely when the clip taken by CNC driller is less than the clip taken manually. so we can find the breakeven point when the usage of CNC driller becomes more plausible.
15+40Q ? 240 + 2QThis inequations outputs Q = 5. 92Hence for Order sizes 6 or supra. CNC drillig should be used and for order sizes below 6. manual boring should be used. CNC routerSee order size = QIf punch imperativeness is used. so the clip taken to cut down the size of Q orders is equal to 50 + 1 tens Q
If CNC router is used. so the clip taken to cut down the size of Q orders is equal 150 + 0. 5 ten Q
Hence it is clear that CNC should be used merely when the clip taken by CNC router is less than the clip taken by punch imperativeness. so we can find the breakeven point when the usage of CNC router becomes more plausible.
50 + Q ? 150 + 0. 5QThis inequation yields Q = 200
Hence for Order sizes 200 or supra. CNC routing should be used and for order sizes below 200. clout pressure should be used.
2. What design determinations did Plummer do in puting up the procedure? What runing determinations must be made on a day-to-day footing?
The design determinations taken by Plummer in puting up the procedure are fundamentally the reproduction of the Master Artwork with a standard panel size of 12” by 18” and 8 images per panel. On one manus. Plummer took the determination besides to integrate the computing machine numerically controlled ( CNC ) Micronic Jr. High Speed drill in the boring and profiling procedures. On another manus. an additionnal design determination that Plummer took is the usage of the DFPR method. the UV exposure. the electroplation. the soldermask silkscreening and the solderbath technique.
The operating determinations that must be made on a day-to-day footing are: 1- Estimating the labour and stuff costs to fix the command for the client 2- Preparing elaborate stuff specifications. figure of circuits. bringing day of the month and sequence of operations 3- Deciding whether to utilize manual boring V CNC boring
4- Deciding whether to utilize punch imperativeness V CNC router5- Fixing the necessary computing machine control for the CNC equipment 6- Procuring the losing supplies in instance of a hold7- Determining how many little haste orders should be sent into treating 8- Allocating the employees on the different operations on clasp
3. What is the monthly capacity of Donner for different order sizes?
Boring procedurea ) Manual Drill is used for order size less than 6B ) CNC Drill is used for order size greater than 6
Profiling procedurea ) Punch Press is used for order size less than 200B ) CNC Router is used for order size greater than 200
Let’s consider order sizes of 8. 80 and 800 ( Since a typical panel consists of eight circuit boards ) .
Assuming normal 8 hours working yearss – 5 yearss a hebdomad. we can state that a month consists of 9600 working proceedingss.
The monthly capacity of Donner for an order size of 8 boards is 124 boards ( ( 9600/615. 05 ) x 8 ) .
The monthly capacity of Donner for an order size of 80 boards is 714 boards ( ( 9600/1074. 5 ) x 80 ) .
The monthly capacity of Donner for an order of 800 boards is 1430 boards ( ( 9600/5369 ) x 800 )
4. How does Donner vie? What are the biggest jobs Donner is confronting. if any?
Donner’s competitory border
Many facets in Donner company’ operations scheme contributed in keeping its place as an industry leader despite the 750 rivals in the US market.
1. Operators were cross-trained and able to execute different maps in different sections ; this being a major advantage ; the ability to deploy employees to execute different maps in different countries when needed. for illustration to run into unexpected customers’ alterations or to run into the deadlines for first-come-first-serve orders.
2. Donner promises its clients 3 hebdomads bringing on orders of 1000 boards or less. and 5 hebdomads on orders larger than 1000 boards. non to bury first-come-first-serve orders ( orders of 8 boards or less ) that are delivered after 4 yearss merely. This singular velocity of bringing is a competitory advantage that other rivals can’t copy easy.
3. Another scheme that Donner adapted to remain competitory in its field is the cost-saving scheme. Donner reduced tremendously its fixed costs by runing in a works that was carefully chosen by direction to minimise installing costs. continuing the life of expensive machinery and insulating the operation’s diverse environment. After being in the same location for a twelvemonth and a half. neither the machines nor the in writing equipment exhibited any marks of corrosion.
4. Donner is a house managed by gifted applied scientists. inspecting on a regular basis design mistakes. expecting. investigation and work outing fabrication jobs and even rectifying paradigm defects.
Problems and Troubles
It is obvious that the company is enduring from several jobs related to its fabrication procedure. labour. quality and bringing. Following is a high spot of each of Donner’s jobs: 1. Operating Problems
The chief job in operations is the unstability of constrictions. It is approximately impossible for Donner to place a constriction and work to better it efficiency since constrictions vary on a regular basis harmonizing to differences in orders ( order sizes. circuit designs… ) . Furthermore. the haste orders and the client’s last minute alterations in the design disturbs the production procedure switching constrictions from one operation to another. 2. Productiveness Problems
Because of the operating jobs. it is normal to meet productiveness jobs. With frequent down times and order alterations. machines are idle for longer than expected. Furthermore. the consecutive procedure flow presently utilized at Donner can do a important idle clip for workers ( Example of the plater who spend 15 % of her clip walking between the desk and the armored combat vehicles ) .
3. Quality Problems
Donner did non implement valid quality control methods to inspect the natural stuff or unfinished merchandises. The company depended chiefly on the single operators’ experience to execute informal scrutiny. Consequently faulty merchandises were returned and needed to be corrected. Re-works resulted in drawing operators from their current occupations to get down re-works on the returned boards. which in bend caused deficiency of productiveness and constrictions doing Donner’s jobs act as a barbarous rhythm difficult to pull off.
4. Delivery ProblemsBecause all these procedures are interconnected. and particularly because of the high rate of returns and re-works. Donner failed to run into its bringing day of the months because re-works required pulling operators off from their current maps doing holds in fabrication and completing the work in advancement.
All these issues that faced Donner had a important impact on Donner’s fiscal position when gross revenues decreased in September endangering Donner’s place in the market place.
